Sorry about the slow update. You know, school and everything. By the way, I'm changing some of the element names. Please notify me if there are any irregularities. And I'm Chinese, not Japanese or anything.
"Two Galleons to Kari instantly getting hit on by five guys at once when we reach Hogwarts."
"Stop it, TK," Kari laughed, although a faint hint of a blush was creeping onto her cheeks. Gatomon grinned up at her from the floor where she and Armadimon were idly spinning a magical whirring top back and forth between them.
"I'm serious," TK protested. "You're really very pretty now."
Davis who was sitting next to the window sort of swelled up jealously. "Hey, Kari's my girl, TK! Watch who you're flirting with!"
"I'm not your girl, Davis," Kari said, somehow managing to keep a straight face through the others' giggling. "I don't have a boyfriend, I really don't."
"You're saying that you don't fancy me?" Davis asked, crestfallen. "Not even one tiny little bit?"
Kari considered it for a while, her cheek resting in her palm. "Actually, not really. I just think of us as friends."
"Oh, come on, you must fancy someone at least a little bit!"
"Why can't we ever talk about something more productive, like Hogwarts?" Cody interrupted. "I think we've discussed who likes who at least twenty times already."
"Fine, then we'll talk about who likes who at Hogwarts."
"Not that, Davis."
"You guys don't get it, do you?" Davis threw up his hands in mock exasperation. "I've heard that Western schools have balls. What if there was a ball the very next day and I ended up with no partner?"
"You know why schools are called schools, Davis?" Yolei asked. "Because students go there to study, not to dance."
"Ken, back me up!" Davis almost yelled, looking at his partner in frustration. "Why on earth don't you ever support me when the others are against me?"
Ken stared at him with the look that said 'what-were-you-expecting?'. He shrugged mutely, not really willing to be dragged into such a discussion.
"Do you think we did the right thing in bringing the Digimon to Hogwarts?" Cody cut in, eager to change the topic. "I mean, there will be so many people and we can't risk getting found out."
"What would the alternative be, leave them back in Japan?" TK reasoned. "For one, there would be no one to take care of them. Second, what if they get into trouble there?"
"And we'll miss you guys!" Patamon quipped, flying onto TK's head and ruffling his hair.
"Point taken," Cody sighed. "You guys brought your Digivices?"
"Yeah, although I don't really see the point." Yolei pulled out hers and examined it. "There's bound to be too much magic around Hogwarts for something like this to – eh?"
"For something like this to eh?" Davis repeated, perplexed. "What do you mean, to eh?"
"Eh?" Yolei looked momentarily confused before she figured out what he meant. "Oh, that's what you meant… I mean, aren't there six of us here?"
"What, have you forgotten how to count or something?" Davis asked. "Yeah, there're six of us here, twelve counting the Digimon." He indicated the floor where most of the Digimon were now engaged in a playful wrestle, tumbling over and over on the floor with muffled squeaks.
"There are seven dots on the Digivice."
"There can't be…" Kari leant over to her to peer at the screen. She frowned as she slowly counted and recounted the blinking dots of various colours that indicated the location of nearby Digivices. "Yeah, you're right. There are seven, instead of six."
"Anyone brought an extra Digivice?" Davis asked so seriously that everyone thought that he was out of his mind.
"Unless there's another Digidestinied around here," Kari said slowly.
"It could be possible, you know." Ken spoke up for the first time. "Remember when we travelled around the world to get the escaped Digimon back into the Digiworld? There were so many other Digidestinied in other parts of the world. It's not impossible that there's another group of Digidestinied right here on this train."
"So you're saying that we're might not the only Digidestinied here?" Davis asked slowly, making a mental note to tell Ken later not to speak in such a complicated way.
"Or your Digivice could be damaged?" TK asked, pulling out his own to examine it. "Hey, mine registers seven too!"
"Maybe all of your Digivices are damaged," V-mon suggested with a faint smile as the rest pulled out their own.
&&&&
"Let's play truth or dare!"
"Puh-lease, Takuya. That's so childish." JP rolled his eyes. What are the English students going to think when they see us playing that?"
"Then I dare you to play the game in front of them!"
"Takuya is going to embarrass all of us at Hogwarts," Zoe sighed. "Takuya, are you six or sixteen?"
"Six, of course! Huh – I mean sixteen!"
The rest laughed – 'the rest' of course not including Kouji, who of course gave Takuya a disgusted look and turned away. Zoe pulled out a Japanese magazine and started reading it, with Tommy who was sitting opposite her trying to read it upside down with an odd frown on his face. Kouji returned to his usual indifferent manner, folding his arms, while Kouichi leant against the window and gazed out dreamily. Takuya and JP started a noisy game of Exploding Snap, which did exactly what it was meant to do – explode.
"Don't do that!" Zoe yelled, as Takuya hurriedly threw aside a handful of dangerously glowing cards, which exploded with full force against the screen of the compartment door, creating a blackened smudge right in the middle. The rest of the cards blew up with similar force, sending a burning piece right into the middle of Zoe's magazine.
One thing about the Japanese version of Exploding Snap, it normally exploded with far more strength than the Western ones. And it was also highly unsuitable to play in small enclosed areas.
JP sheepishly cleared the black smudge on the screen with his wand, while Takuya scowled heavily at Zoe, who was scowling heavily back. Kouji sighed inwardly. When on earth are they ever going to act their ages? Oh, right. Never.
A sudden bang rocked their compartment, throwing Tommy (who had been leaning over to read Zoe's magazine) right into JP. Kouichi started up just in time to see Kouji hit Takuya for flying into him. The train wobbled slightly, and started to slow down.
"I didn't do anything," Takuya blurted out, since he was already accustomed to being accused of that sort of stuff. "My wand's still in my pocket."
Kouichi stared out the window. In the distance he could make out a tiny black speck of something swirling in the air. It got bigger and bigger, swirling faster and faster. Several tinier specks seemed to fly out of the grey whirlwind. "Er, guys, there's something out there…"
"Where?" Takuya stumbled over Tommy to get to the window. In the other carriages, other students too were gaping out at the strange object in the sky. Zoe fought her way through the tangle of bodies to look out the window, and Kouichi backed away, slightly afraid of being squashed.
The train slowly picked up speed again. Before any of them could wonder aloud what it was, it vanished from view. The train sped up to its original speed once more, and soon they were hurtling along at full speed.
"Didn't catch a good look at it," Tommy complained, going back to his seat. He leant back, closing his eyes. "Wake me when we get there."
The rest of the journey passed without event, unless you counted Takuya blowing up his third pack of Exploding Snap cards, one time right in Zoe's face, making her so angry that she chased him along the corridor, drawing many curious stares. JP, Tommy and Kouji (minus Kouichi who had fallen asleep), with enough experience with these sort of matters, quickly went to stop their fight before it blew out of hand.
You could say it was deeply embarrassing. On the bright side (if there actually was one), they met the group of British teenagers they had seen in Diagon Alley. It was purely by accident; Takuya, who was really afraid of getting hexed by Zoe, who was infamous for her ability to cast the most humiliating hexes, randomly slipped into a compartment. It turned out to be the group's compartment. Luckily, they didn't seem to think them childish.
"Sorry about that," Tommy quickly apologised, trying to get Zoe to keep her wand.
Kouji mutely grabbed the back of Takuya's head and bent him over before he could protest. They grappled for a while in the corridor, before Zoe, with an unmistakeable sigh of 'boys' pushed them down to the floor with her wand.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry I blew up the cards right under your nose on purpose!" Takuya yelled.
"That wasn't sincere."
"Fine. I said I'm sorry. What more do you want?"
"A sincere apology."
"What? I already apologised! How sincere do you want it to be?"
"Takuya will never manage that," Kouji commented, watching as Zoe let out a stream of mild expletives in Japanese, which the Language Charm fortunately couldn't translate.
"This is so embarrassing," JP muttered, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smile.
"No, it's okay," one of the English boys said. "We met in Diagon Alley, didn't we?"
"Yeah," Takuya said, giving up trying to manage a sincere apology and bouncing over to sit next to the boy. "I'm Takuya Kanbara. Call me Takuya."
"Takuya?" One of the girls extended a hand. Takuya shook hands with her. "I'm Hermione Granger. And that's Harry Potter… Ginny Weasley… And her older brother Ron – get that look of your face!"
"What look?" Ron defended himself.
"That look that says you're seeing something…" Hermione sighed, giving up. "Oh, well."
"Sorry about the fight," Zoe said sheepishly. She introduced herself. "Takuya never acts his age. He okay sometimes, but most of the time he should be in a daycare centre."
"OI!"
"I'm Tommy," Tommy introduced himself. "And that's JP… And that's Kouji."
"We're exchange students from Japan," JP explained. "There's another from our group, Kouichi, Kouji's twin brother, he's back in our compartment. There's another group too, from another school in Japan."
"Exchange students?" Hermione questioned, eyebrows raised. "It's been ages since there were any exchange students or anything… I didn't know about any programmes."
"And only from Japan?" Harry asked. "No others?"
"Not that we know of," Tommy replied. "I think we're the only ones…"
"We have to get back," Kouji interrupted. "It's getting dark, and I think we're reaching soon."
"Yeah, we should be arriving any time soon," Ginny said, looking at her watch. "Why don't we meet up later in Hogwarts, and we can have a good chat?"
"That is, if you guys get into Gryffindor," Ron added.
"What's that?" Takuya asked. "Some kind of element?"
Zoe and Kouji exchanged painful, embarrassed looks. Zoe spoke up. "Takuya, they don't sort students by their elements in the West."
"What elements?" Hermione asked, interested. "I've read about the Eastern style magic schools, but I don't really understand what they mean by the elements."
"Something our genius Hermione doesn't understand?" Ron's eyes widened dramatically. "Are you serious?"
"Ha ha," Hermione deadpanned.
They spent quite a lot of time exchanging information on the elements and houses. By the time they finished, it was really very dark and they had to hurry back to change into their uniforms. As they approached their compartment, they saw Kouichi talking to a familiar-looking English boy in the corridor. When Kouichi saw them coming, the conversation quickly ended and the boy disappeared into a compartment a distance away.
"Who was that?" Kouji asked his twin.
"Who was who?" Kouichi looked at him innocently. He had already changed into his Japanese uniform, a kimono styled plain dark red robe, although slightly more fitting that the normal kimono, with a black belt around the waist instead of the usual obi, and black strips from the neckline down the shoulder to the wrists.
"That boy you were talking to," Takuya said. "You made friends with him?"
Kouichi looked suddenly shifty. "Sort of. You guys better change quick, we're reaching soon. Where were you guys anyway?"
Zoe took her uniform to the toilet to change, while the boys changed in the compartment. Since there wasn't room, Kouichi waited outside with Kouji and Takuya while JP and Tommy changed, then Kouji and Takuya went in while JP and Tommy waited outside. A voice announced instructions to leave their luggage on the train, which they nearly didn't hear because Takuya's trunk nearly fell on his head when he was struggling to put his Muggle clothes back inside without taking it down from the luggage rack.
They joined the crowd of students in the corridor, jostling to get off the train. Many directed stares in their directions. Getting off the train, they walked into the Fire Academy students, who were also dressed in Japanese uniforms. Their uniforms were almost similar to theirs, except for a Chinese character emblazoned over the back and the right side near the bottom of the robes. Davis, wearing golden-beige robes with the Chinese character for fire – huo – on his robes, waved to them, grinning. Takuya waved back.
Not sure about where to go, they followed the other Hogwarts students as they left the station. Where they were going was soon obvious as about a hundred carriages came into view.
"Wow." Kouichi stopped in his tracks. "Threstrals."
"What what?" Takuya asked, puzzled. He stared at Kouichi.
"Magical creatures that are only visible to those who have seen death," Kouichi explained. He shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, I forgot that only Darkness students learn about these things."
"So what do they look like?" JP asked. He, like the rest in the group, knew that Kouichi had almost died going to the Digiworld years ago, and he had also been present when his grandmother died.
"Big… With wings… No skin…"
"No skin?" Takuya repeated, puzzled. "Then, what makes up their bodies?"
"Bones," Kouichi replied. He smiled slightly. "Even without the death part, you won't want to see how they look like. Nightmare stuff, you know?"
They got into a carriage. The doors shut and they took off, flying through the air smoothly.
&&&&
Kouji kept staring at Kouichi. The feeling that he was hiding something kept nagging at him. Back on the train he had tapped into his Legilimency skills and tried to find out what he was thinking, but was blocked by a strong mental barrier of Occlumency. Knowing that Kouichi was a better Occlumens than he was, he gave up. In their school, such skills were normally taught early, unlike in the West where students hardly ever learnt it at all. He still painfully remembered how he and Kouichi used to practise on each other, until Kouji tried and failed to break through Kouichi's barrier eleven times in a row.
Kouichi was tightly holding on to a small bag he kept over his shoulders. Kouji frowned as he looked at the bag, but did not pose any questions. As the others chatted happily in excitement, he kept staring at Kouichi, trying not to look suspicious but wondering what he was keeping secret, while Kouichi fixedly stared out the window.
The carriage landed smoothly in front of the great Hogwarts castle. They got out, only to be greeted by a tall, stern-looking woman they recognised to be Professor McGonagall. The Fire Academy students were already gathered close behind her. They still carried their bags over their shoulders.
"Good evening. I hope you had a pleasant journey," she said stiffly. "Now, please follow me."
The group fell silent as she led them to into an enormous hallway. Students were passing through into what appeared to be a greater hall than the first. She brought them into a small room nearby.
"Now, in a while, you will be Sorted, after the first-years," she explained, looking less strict. "The whole school will be watching, so please be on your best behaviour. Like how you are sorted into your elements back in Japan, here in Hogwarts you will be sorted into either of the four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.
"However, as you are exchange students, the main aim of the trip is to let you mix around with Hogwarts students and embrace the cultural difference. So, instead of sorting you into a house, which is the usual practice, you will be sorted into two houses each. You will spend half the schooling year, that is, five months, in one house, and the other half in the other house."
She looked over them. "Please get ready. I will come and fetch you when the first-years are sorted." She left.
"Hope we all get into the same house," Takuya said jubilantly.
"I don't think we will," JP said. "Those students we met explained the house, remember? We're not even in the same elements…"
They looked over at the Fire Academy group. Now that they noticed, not all of them were from different elements. Davis was a Fire element, both Kari and TK were Light, Yolei was Wind, Cody was Earth, and Ken was Darkness.
"I thought we were representing our elements," Tommy whispered. "Why are both Kari and TK Light? Don't they have Water?"
Not long later, Professor McGonagall came back with them. With the Fire Academy students leading, they walked into a huge hall beyond anything they had ever seen. Used to the drab temple and shrines back in Japan, they were surprised to see the elegance. The ceiling, obviously enchanted, was a dark blue, with drifting clouds and twinkling stars. Four long tables, seated with students, were arranged evenly in the hall. Students at one table wore different colours from the other table, mirroring the colours of the banners that hung above each of the tables.
A ragged old hat was lying on a small stool at the front, between the students and the higher table meant for teachers. Dumbledore was standing behind the teachers' table, in the middle. The students at their tables stared at them. Some who had already seen them earlier nudged their friends.
"This year, we are pleased to have several exchange students from Japan with us. I hope you will make them feel most welcome during their stay here," Dumbledore announced. "In Japan, they too are sorted, but according to their elements, which mirror their personalities. The elements, Fire, Light, Wind, Earth, Water and Darkness, all symbolise something important to them, like the four houses here to us.
"Like the first-year students, they will also be sorted, but into two houses instead of one." There was a murmur among the students at this statement. "This is to ensure that they are able to mix among you as much as possible." He smiled. "They will be in one house for half of the school year, and another for the other half. Now, as there is nothing else to explain…"
"The main element is… Fire!" Dumbledore announced to the school. "People of this element are known as brash, temperamental, but friendly and brave. First… Kanbara, Takuya."
Takuya looked surprised to be the first, but stepped up to the stool. He put on the Sorting Hat, and sat down. A few seconds later, the Hat announced:
"Gryffindor and Hufflepuff!"
"Chose whichever house you want to go in first," Professor McGonagall said to him. "You can request for a change to the other house if you are not satisfied or used to it yet later."
Takuya identified the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, and then noticed the group they had met earlier at the Gryffindor table. With a grin to the others, he went over to the Gryffindor table and sat down with them.
"Next, Fire Element Motomiya, Davis."
Davis was sorted into Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He joined the Gryffindor table next to Takuya.
"Second element – Light. Known as pure and uncorrupt. Light elements normally are kind and good to friends. First, Minamoto Kouji."
Kouji was sorted into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. He joined the Gryffindor table.
"Takaishi Takeru."
TK was also sorted into Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, also joining the Gryffindor table with the others.
"Tamiya Kari."
Kari got the same houses and too joined the Gryffindor table.
"The Wind element is classified as caring, gentle and on the whole, friendly and kind to friends and sometimes even enemies," Dumbledore went on.
Kouichi's eyes met Kouji's. They stared at each other for a while, until after both Yolei and Zoe were sorted into the same houses, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Both joined the Hufflepuff table.
"Earth elements are known as down-to-earth and serious, and are always conscious of other people's feelings," Dumbledore's voice interrupted Kouichi's thought. Kouichi drew his attention away, knowing that the Darkness element would be saved for last, as the West was quite touchy with 'Dark' stuff, especially now that You-Know-Who was back. And from their names, Kouichi would probably be the last one.
He vaguely watched Cody was sorted into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Cody went to the Hufflepuff table and sat down with the girls.
"The element of Water," Dumbledore's voice broke through Kouichi's thoughts again. "Fluid and flexible, and can easily adapt to change."
Tommy went into Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He hesitated for a while before angling towards the Hufflepuff table, sitting down next to Cody.
Kouichi's eyes wandered the Great Hall. Suddenly he caught sight of a familiar face at the Slytherin table. The boy was staring at him. He stared back.
"Finally, the element of Darkness."
As expected, there were many loud murmurs throughout the hall. Everyone stared at the remaining two students in front.
"Those of the Darkness element," Dumbledore said, raising his voice slightly, for even he was aware of how the students felt, "are normally quiet, but possess an inner strength they can use to their advantage. They are very rare; those with the ability to harness their powers are even rarer. First, Ichijouji, Ken."
The Hat shouted out its decisions: Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Kouichi saw Ken hesitate for a while, before walking to the Slytherin table.
"Finally, Kimura Kouichi."
Kouichi walked up to the stool and sat down, distinctly aware that more and more people were staring at him. He wished they wouldn't. Suddenly a small voice buzzed in his ear.
"Eh? What's this? This is odd… Never seen anything like this before. You've got a mixture of everything, it's so hard to evaluate you this way. Nothing like this before…"
What? Kouichi thought, starting to feel nervous. He didn't know how long he sat there, but finally the Hat announced its decisions.
"Gryffindor and Slytherin!"
The entire hall was filled with shouts of shock.
Please review and tell me what you think. It's appreciated.